As Women’s History Month progresses, members of the UTRGV community explain the importance of appreciating women year-round and bringing awareness of stigmas surrounding gender.
Silvia Solis, a gender and women’s studies lecturer, said it is important to learn about women’s history because their contributions to society might sometimes be hidden from “mainstream history.”
“We also have to be careful that it doesn’t become only a commodity, or only a little trophy that I have as a one day or one month out of the year [when] women get celebrated, because the type of study, the type of deep dive that Women’s History Month provides us, or allows us to do, needs to be done all year long,” Solis said.
She stressed that having a one-month-minimum celebration in honor of women’s history provides an intervention in a world that is fixed with temporary bandages.
“Just a month out of the year, that’s not structural change,” Solis said. “That’s not helping anyone. It’s not bringing about change in social institutions. It’s not abolishing harassment in the workforce … but it does provide an intervention.”
Mayra Avila, a UTRGV history professor, said women’s history is important to learn and celebrate because people need role models.
“It’s important for students to see themselves in the individuals they’re learning about,” Avila said. “There’s a lot of women that created change, and it’s OK to be loud. It’s OK to cause ruckus, because, sometimes, that’s what you need to do to create change.”
Ala Qubbaj, dean for the UTRGV College of Engineering and Computer Science, speaks during an event in honor of International Women’s Day March 8 in the University Ballroom on the Edinburg campus. ISABEL MORALES/THE RIDER PHOTOS
She explained that, even though society frowned upon it, daughters took on jobs during the Bracero Program from 1942-64 because groups of women had no support from their husbands.
Avila said the Bracero Program was a period of time when the United States allowed Mexican men to work in farms legally but were forced to leave their wives and children behind.
“It comes to a point that you have to feed your family, and that’s more important,” she said. “So it’s amazing to see how women maneuver these times. The beautiful part, now, is that women are managers. That women can work in any field, not just what they consider women’s work.”
Graphic design freshman Carla Santoyo said the monthlong celebration allows people to acknowledge and learn from the hardships women went through in order to get what they have now.
“There is more beyond what you are, [more] than just a woman,” Santoyo said. “You can have dreams. You can have opportunities and different abilities than what was just given to you.”
She believes women’s stereotypes have diminished over the years, causing opportunities to multiply.
“[Women’s History Month] means that if someone like my mom, who came from a household where you have to respect the men, and just the men, can do it … I can pursue my dreams and accomplish them,” Santoyo said.
